By Tal Beeri
General admission
Ahmad Hussein al Shara, often known by the pseudonym Abu Muhammad al Julani, was born in 1982 in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an economic consultant in the oil business in the 1970s and 1980s, and his mother taught geography. He returned to Damascus with his family in 1989, when he was seven years old.
In an interview given in 2021 to the American public channel PBS, claimed that his family’s origins in the Golan Heights inspired his nickname “Abu Muhammad al Julani.” He claims that his grandfather fled the Golan Heights in 1967 (during the Six-Day War).
In Damascus, he attended primary and secondary school. After graduating from high school, he attended university in the Department of Communications. According to some accounts, he began studying to become a doctor, but dropped out after about two years. In 2003, he dropped out of school and joined extremist Islamist organizations in Iraq. He joined the Mujahideen Brigades in Mosul and declared allegiance to Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and eventually was one of the founding members of the Islamic State (ISIS). Between 2004 and 2010, Julani was captured by the Americans and imprisoned in Bucha Camp. He then joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The creation of the Al Nusra Front and the remoteness from Al-Julani from Al-Baghdadi (ISIS)
In mid-2011, Abu Muhammad al Julani arrived from Iraq in the town of Binnish in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, together with Abu Muhammad al Adnani (the official spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant at the time). The two arrived as representatives of the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq at the time, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The two contacted dignitaries in the town and told them that they had come to help the uprising against the regime. In late 2011, Al Julani and Al Adnani established what was called the Al Nusra Front (the Aid Front) for Syrians, against the regime.
The Al Nusra Front, under the command of Abu Muhammad Al Julani, began operating in Syria against the Assad regime and its army, with the help they received from the Islamic State in Iraq. Al Julani received significant support as the leader of a strong and cohesive faction against the Syrian regime.
Jabhat al-Nusra remained affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, until the latter decided in 2013 to merge the two organisations into a new entity called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, later renamed ISIS. Al-Julani announced in an audio recording that he had pledged allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri and had completely disassociated himself from ISIS.
Since Al Julani split from ISIS, the differences between the two organizations have increased and they have fought conflicts in more than one area. The influence of Al Nusra Front has increased and the organization is considered a very cohesive and strong organization.
In 2013, the U.S. State Department designated Abu Muhammad al Julani a global terrorist, offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest, and classified Jabhat al Nusra as a terrorist organization.
Al Julani's departure from Al Zawahiri (Al Qaeda), the change of the organization's name (twice) and moderation (?)
In a shock move in July 2016, al-Julani announced his organization’s withdrawal from al-Qaeda, changing its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and saying in his first public appearance on camera after remaining a shadowy figure for years that the decision was “to provide no excuse for the international community, led by the United States and Russia, to bomb and expel all Muslims in the Levant under the pretext of harming the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.”
In 2017, the organization attempted to merge several opposition factions under a new name, Hayat Tahrir al Sham. However, the factions quickly retreated, leading al-Julani’s main organization to adopt a new name and expand into northwestern Syria, particularly in the city of Idlib. There, it successfully excluded and expelled several Syrian opposition factions, including battalions affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, the Syrian Revolutionary Front, and even the Islamic State itself. It also expelled militant factions such as Jund al Aqsa (Soldiers of al Aqsa), an arm of the al-Nusra Front, and Hurras al Din (Guardian of Religion), which is affiliated with al-Qaeda. Al-Julani thus controlled several areas and established itself as one of the strongest parties in the conflict in Syria.
Since taking control of Idlib, Abu Muhammad al-Julani has gradually and rapidly begun to change his harsh policy. He abolished the committees for the promotion of integrity and the prevention of corruption, which used to interfere in the affairs of citizens. He has also appealed to Western public opinion. To this end, he gave several interviews to Western newspapers, in which he expressed his openness to change.
Recall that during Al Julani's first media appearance in 2013 with Al Jazeera, he stood with his back to the camera, hidden by a black cover that hid his head and face. He advocated for the formation of a government in Syria based on Islamic law. About eight years later, he participated in an interview for Al Jazeera's Frontline program. PBS, appearing on camera in a shirt and jacket. He said at the time that it was unfair to categorize him as a terrorist and that he condemned the killing of innocent people, stressing that his group had never endangered the West.
Those who knew Abu Muhammad al Julani at the time described his controversial personality as ambitious and rigorous, yet dynamic and pragmatic. He managed to establish close ties with a wide range of conservative environments in Idlib province, as well as with various personalities and factions in the province and beyond. He also maintained positive relations with Islamist organisations led by Ahrar al Sham, referring to its members as “His brother in the idea”.
Al Nusra Front activity in southern Syria
The southern Syrian region took center stage in the context of the civil war due to its strategic importance. Jaysh al Fatah (Liberation Army) established an operations room in 2015, which served as a coordination headquarters for Sunni jihadist terrorist organizations. The Al Nusra Front, under the leadership of Abu Muhammad Al Julani, initiated the establishment of this headquarters. Organizations such as Faylaq al Sham (al Sham Battalion), Akhrar al Sham (Freedom for Al Sham) and other small jihadist groups joined later.
The Nusra Front maintained a remarkably vigorous and influential presence in Deraa province, and its operations later spread to Quneitra province and the Al Ghouta region. At its peak, the organization numbered approximately 2.400 fighters. However, after violent clashes with the Syrian regime and its supporters, only about 700 activists remained, mostly from Deraa.
In the summer of 2016, the majority of Al-Nusra Front operatives relocated from Deraa province in northwestern Syria to Idlib as part of a secret deal with the Syrian regime. Following the relocation, a small group of Al-Nusra Front operatives decided to stay in their communities in southern Syria.
From the Idlib Enclave Rescue Government to the Syrian Salvation Government after the fall of Assad
In November 2017, Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) established the “Salvation Government” in Idlib. Simultaneously with the build-up of its military power, the organisation ran a kind of full-fledged state in the areas under its control, taking care of education, health, internal security and public services.
With the start of the major offensive against the Syrian regime on November 27, 2024 and the entry of the rebels into the city of Aleppo, Al Julani appeared in a video in which he gave orders by phone, reminding the fighters of the instructions to protect the people and avoid entering houses, transmitting messages of reassurance to minorities in Syria who fear armed groups. In another statement, he also called on the Alawite community (the sect of the Assad family) in Syria to distance itself from the Government and be part of the “Syria of the future” that “does not recognize sectarianism.”
In a message to Christians following the capture of Aleppo, Al Julani stated that “they are safe and their property is protected,” urging them to stay in their homes, rejecting the “psychological warfare” and intimidation waged by the Syrian regime. It should be noted that Hay'at Tahrir al Sham, in contrast to its previous approach, adopted the slogans of the Syrian civil opposition, either by adopting the Syrian independence flag as its flag or using symbols on the uniforms of its members.
In recent days, al-Julani has begun publishing statements signed under his real name, Ahmed al-Shara, as part of attempts to show that he has “shed” his former persona as the leader of a militant organization and has begun to lean increasingly toward a “Syrian national project.”
In the interview that Al Julani gave to the CNN In an undisclosed location in Syria on December 7, al-Julani spoke of plans to establish an institutionalized government and “a council that will be elected by the people.” During the interview, al-Julani sought to reassure non-Muslim minorities and sects in Syria, stressing that they will live in peace and security under the rule of opposition factions, saying: “No one has the right to erase another sect or religion, because these religious sects have coexisted in the region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them.”
Al Julani stressed that Syria deserves a system of government based on institutions and not on the rule of an individual, referring to Assad, adding: “We are talking about a bigger project, we are talking about building Syria.”
However, there are those who doubt these intentions and statements. Skeptics believe that flexibility and aspiration for change are nothing more than a ploy by which Al Julani seeks to present himself and his organization as a party acceptable to the international community and regional powers and, on the other hand, to win the affection and faith of the diverse Syrian society across its religious, ethnic and ethnic spectrum.
Time will tell…
Source: Alma – Research and Education Center